This episode aired February 29, 1976.

Orson Welles was approached to play the part of Santini, but his asking price was too high.

This would mark Jack Cassidy’s third and final appearance on the show. Ten months after this episode aired, Cassidy would perish in an apartment fire at the age of 49.

Longtime series extra Mike Lally who appeared as a background performer in some 28 episodes of the show was given the uncredited role of the elderly man Columbo interviews in the boarding room. This scene was shot months after main unit production wrapped and was reportedly a gift to Lally from Falk.

My thoughts on this episode in chronological viewing order…

“Could you make him disappear?”he asks in reference to the pain-in-the-ass Jerome. I suspect he is just about to do just that.

Love Santino’s purple-blue jacket. Another stylish Cassidy-Columbo villain.

You can see the beads of perspiration on Jerome’s forehead. Is this important?

Blackmailers never fare well on this show.

Ah, the magician’s rabbit. A true classic.

Man, the timing on this murder has to be impeccable.

Santini is cool under pressure, taking the time to brush those fake sideburns.

Boy, this is a long magic trick.

How DID he guess #4?

Whoa, he’s an ex-Nazi!

He’s not gonna make it!

What a wonderfully tense and spellbinding opening. This episode is off to a roaring start.

Is that a new raincoat?

Columbo’s leftover dinner is greasy chicken in a brown paper bag. I guess it’s a step up from a hardboiled egg.

Santini burns the evidence. Ah, the days before laptops and digital copies.

9:56-10:06 – Jerome died within a 10 minute span. THAT is a precise and tight window.

We can discount robbery as a motive.

Not really buying Columbo’s thought process here regarding the shooting. Jerome could well have answered the door to someone holding a gun, been forced to back away from the door, and then shot. That’s highly plausible.

Ultimately much ado about nothing if they can prove the lock was picked.

“Large hands; more facile.” Is that a fact?

Offering the detective theories about the murder investigation is always a bad idea. Santini theorizes that it was a professional hit. Just like Ken Franklin in “Murder By the Book”, also played by Jack Cassidy.

Santini can’t reveal his secrets so he refuses to assist Columbo in his investigation – and Columbo considers this a a real dilemma. Really?

Love the fact Columbo is trying to lose his new raincoat.

“Could you do something about my table?”

“Where are you sitting?”

“In the other room.”

Reminds me of a former executive I worked with who boasted he had his own table at one of L.A.’s most popular restaurants. It turned out it was a table for one right by the bathroom.

Columbo really seems to be enjoying the show!

Echoes of Columbo’s cooking show assist from “Double Shock”.

Ah, clever. Columbo brought along a pair of handcuffs to test Santini. His knowing “I knew you could do it.” is a terrific line.

“A round of applause for the lieutenant who tried to outwit the master.” This is a delicious battle of wits.

And the coup de grace: he lifted Columbo’s badge!

Columbo confirms Santini performs the Water Tank trick at precisely the same time every night. “Like clockwork.”

Say, 9:56 to 10:06?

He finally tracks down Santini – who has been expecting him! Again, one step a head.

“Any lock can be picked, lieutenant, if you know how.”

“I always have a brandy brought to me at the same time each evening. It calms the nerves.” Thereby establishing his alibi.

“I wouldn’t notice if my mother walked in and kissed me,”says Harry Blandford. Robert Loggia is wonderful in this small role and would have made a delightfully menacing Columbo villain.

Columbo is reluctant to assist in this mini guillotine trick. And I don’t blame him. This scene foreshadows “Columbo Goes to the Guillotine”, does it not?

Hmmmm. Santini used to have a German accent.

Is Santini looking to replace his daughter as part of the act? It’s a shame we don’t get more about this relationship.

“You stay put now or I’ll revoke your driving privileges,”he warns Dog. And also tells him that if anyone tries to steal the new raincoat, he should look the other way.

“Does not look Italian.” That was the first note he made!

Not sure why he is pursuing Santini’s background outside of the fact that it’s necessary for the plot.

“Mr.Santini killed Mr. Jerome.” That’s theory. Now prove it.

Ah, that’s how he did the number trick. So simple once you know.

“What happened to the new coat?”

“It didn’t fit.”

Yes, we’ve established Jerome was a sweaty guy.

By process of elimination, they can deduce he was sitting in the office chair – “Sweat lines hit in the right place.”

Normally, one would ask “Who cares what the victim was doing before he was killed?” Again, this feels like an investigative line born of plot necessity rather than logic.

“And I promise you I will not disappear before your very eyes when you come to arrest me.” Brilliant.

Blandford is dismissive of him. A bad sign.

This O.S. conversation is obviously a set-up.

Even though his mic trick has been revealed, Santini remains cool under pressure.

“Opportunity and motive. It’s enough to convict for first degree murder.” Is it?

Love him incinerating the evidence!

Also love Columbo producing copies of the evidence with flourish: “I hope you were watching carefully. That’s my best trick.”

Aha! The evidence is on the disposable cartridge.

“Means, opportunity, motive.” There you go.

“And I thought I’d performed the perfect murder.”

“There’s no such thing as a perfect murder. That’s just an illusion.”

Jack Cassidy goes out in style.

This episode was an utter delight and easily one of my favorites to date. Cassidy’s Santini is a fantastically fearsome villain, but Columbo is more than up to the challenge, beating him at his own game. Despite a few investigative beats that felt like huge assumptions to me, this episode delivered on so much of what makes this show great – wonderful character moments, great lines, and a clever murder and equally clever Gotcha.

This season has had some of the show’s best – and worst. The season finale, “Last Salute to the Commodore” is ranked as one of the show’s weakest, so my expectations are low. But then again, “Dagger of the Mind” was pretty low-rated as well and I came away pleasantly surprised.

Here is my revised episode rankings: 1. Forgotten Lady, 2. Now You See Him, 3. Negative Reaction, 4. Any Old Port in a Storm, 5. Double Exposure, 6. A Friend In Deed, 7. Double Shock, 8. A Stitch in Crime, 9. Death Lends a Hand, 10. Suitable for Framing, 11. Publish or Perish, 12. Dagger of the Mind, 13. Requiem for a Falling Star, 14. Prescription: Murder, 15. Murder by the Book/Ransom for a Dead Man (tie), 16. By Dawn’s Early Light, 17. Swan Song, 18. Troubled Waters, 19. Lady in Waiting, 20. An Exercise in Fatality, 21. Etude in Black, 22. Playback, 23. The Most Crucial Game, 24. Blueprint for Murder, 25. Lovely But Lethal, 26. A Deadly State of Mind, 27. The Most Dangerous Match, 28. The Greenhouse Jungle 29. Identity Crisis, 30. Dead Weight, 31. Short Fuse, 32. A Case of Immunity, 33. Candidate for Crime, 34. Mind Over Mayhem.

Finally, it’s time to ask ourselves whether Columbo, has as he claims, has enough evidence to put Santini away – or will Santini effect yet another miraculous escape? GUILTY or ACQUITTAL? Alas, in this case, Columbo lays it all out quite neatly – Mean, Opportunity, Motive. I think the master has been bested here. GUILTY!